Your solar inverter Most have a few lights and a small LCD screen on the front. The screen will generally tell you the power being produced at that moment, measured in watts (W) or kilowatts (kW). Most of them have a button that you press to scroll through other information.

SRECs are certificates solar energy owners earn for every 1,000 kilowatt-hours (or 1 megawatt-hour) produced by their system. That certificate can then be registered and sold on the SREC market, which can help you generate extra income from your solar system.

For solar energy to power your home, you need to run the system-generated electricity through the inverter and convert it into alternating current (AC). Depending on your chosen setup, you may have to connect the solar battery and inverter to your circuit breaker panel and fuse box to run into the home.